Novak Djokovic saw Hubert Hurkacz’s 33 aces fly past him with increasing frustration, he was only able to take the serve from his Polish opponent once – however: despite all the resistance, the defending champion could not be defeated. In a match over two days, the champion of the past four years won 7: 6 (8: 6), 7: 6 (8: 6), 5: 7, 6: 4.
“I can’t remember the last time I felt so miserable on the return,” said Djokovic after the 32nd win in a row at Wimbledon. “This match could have ended differently, it wasn’t a joy for me,” he added. Djokovic has won on the ‘holy turf’ on the past four occasions and seven times in total. Roger Federer (8) holds the record.
After 3:06 hours, Djokovic turned his first match point into a victory that was really hard fought. Only in the fifth game of the fourth set did Hurkacz, ranked 18th in the world, lose his serve. The fact that he missed the not so unlikely sensation was due to the mistakes in the few decisive moments. Djokovic only wobbled in the third set, and then only briefly.
Hurkacz was already on the verge of winning the first round on Monday evening, well in advance of the hour, but was unable to use three set balls in a row in the tie-break when the score was 6: 3 – he made a mistake every time. In the following tie-break he didn’t get a set ball. Immediately afterwards, the match was canceled due to the curfew in Wimbledon (11 p.m. local time).
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A good 15 hours later we continued. And it went on as before. Serve means win the game. In the twelfth game of the third set, however, Djokovic wobbled – and out of nowhere Hurkacz opened up two break chances. He used the second to win the set. The audience on Center Court was enthusiastic.
Djokovic wouldn’t be Djokovic if he hadn’t found a way out of his little hole. However, Hurkacz also helped involuntarily because he often lacked the determination during longer rallies. This can be seen especially in the fifth game of the fourth set when Djokovic used his second break chance.